New shipping policy to help promote blue economy: Ali Zaidi
The minister said during his tenure, PNSC paid back loans of Rs 4.7 billion
ISLAMABAD (APP) – Minister for Maritime Affairs Ali Haider Zaidi Thursday said the new shipping policy introduced by the government would help promoting blue economy in the country.
Participating in the budget debate in the National Assembly, he said the maritime related blue economic sector remained neglected during past governments, but the incumbent government took several initiatives to exploit this sector.
He said today was international seafarers day and the ministry had a plan to train maximum number of people as seafarers to send them abroad and work in foreign flag vessels. He said Pakistan seafarers who were working abroad send only $50 million remittances annually however a country like Philippines receive over $6 billion per year from their seafarers working abroad.
The minister said during his tenure, Pakistan National Shipping Corporation (PNSC) paid back loans of Rs 4.7 billion, while Karachi Port Trust recovered damages of Rs 2.2 billion. Further, he informed that since 2010 no audit of KPT and Port Qasim had been conducted in the past and now the current government started the process of audit. He said in March and April current year, record 270 vessels were handled by the port Qasim despite COVID-19.
The minister added that the whole world was passing through an unprecedented time when even the strongest economies were facing worst economic crisis. However, he said the whole world was praising the Prime Minister Imran Khan’s decisions of minimizing suffering of people due to lockdown during the pandemic. He said under Ehsaas package, Rs 12000 each were paid to over 10 million deserving families.
Moreover, he said attractive packages were also announced for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) sector. He informed that according to World Economic Outlook, economy of US shrank by 8 percent, that of UK shrank by 10 percent, while Russia, South Africa, Malaysia and India also faced economic slowdown of 6 percent, 6 percent, 3percent, and 4.4 percent respectively. However, he mentioned, Pakistan’s economy shrank by only 0.4%.
Criticizing the worst situation of health and education sectors in Sindh province, the minister said the provincial government should focus it attention on these sectors. Participating in the budget debate, Chief Whip and PTI MNA Malik Aamir Dogar highlighted the various aspects of the budget and stressed to control the population.
Dogar said a balanced budget has been presented for the next fiscal year in face of the challenge posed by COVID-19 pandemic. He expressed the confidence the government will deliver on its promises as per the expectations of the masses. He said that Rs 150 billion were allocated for ‘Ehasas Cash Program’ out of which Rs 132.98 billions had been disbursed among the needy persons. He appreciated Prime Minister Imran Khan and head of ‘Ehsas Cash Program’ Sania Nishtar for taking successful initiatives to mitigate the sufferings of people.
Malik Aamir Dogar said that China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) was a game changer for the entire region and an amount of Rs 177 billion has been allocated for the project. He also spoke about the shortcomings in the criminal justice system and stressed for effective legislation in this regard. Judicial reforms are very much crucial for speedy justice and for benefit of the people.
The PTI leader said that 32 percent of Punjab budget was allocated for South Punjab during this fiscal year to fulfill the promises made with the people of that region. PTI government saved the taxpayers’ money and the austerity campaign was adopted by the Prime Minister House and the Governors’ Houses, he added.
Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz leader Ahsan Iqbal said national effort was required to revive the economy as no single party could tackle the current challenges. He said the economic targets set for the next year were unrealistic. He said the growth could not be achieved by cutting the development outlay. He said “we need to invest in science and technology to take forward the country.”
He said that the government had failed to devise a clear policy on coronavirus and locust. He said that nothing had been announced by the government to improve the confidence of investors. He said that China Pakistan Economic Corridor was the engine for the development of the country but unfortunately the government had failed to focus on it.
The PML-N leader said the government had not allocated an enough amount to carry out programmes for development of remote areas. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf lawmaker Jai Parkash said that when PTI took over the charge of the government, the country’s economy was in a bad position. He was of the view that coronavirus pandemic had badly affected the country’s economy.
He also appreciated the government coronavirus policy and said the opposition parties had politicized the COVID-19 issue. He condemned the atrocities unleashed by the Modi government against Muslims in India and Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir. He said that Ehsaas Emergency Cash program was started by the government to provide assistance to poor people and daily wagers who got badly affected by the COVID-19.
Rana Ajmal of Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz said that unfortunately no funds had been allocated to deal with locust. He stressed the need for national unity to successfully tackle the challenges confronting by the country. The PML-N lawmaker asked the government to decrease the prices of fertilizers and electricity for the farmers. Ajmal said the agriculture sector should be supported to ensure food security in these difficult times. He said the aircraft and other equipment should immediately be procured to fight locusts. He said apart from reducing input costs of the farmers, support price should be announced for the major crops.
Parliamentary Secretary for National Health Services Dr Nausheen Hamid commended the government for giving importance to the health sector in the budget. She said there were currently 129 laboratories across the country where the testing capacity for coronavirus has significantly been enhanced.
Nosheen said budget for health and education should be increased as drastic reforms specifically in health sector was need of the hour. She asked the opposition to cooperate with the government in legislation process to bring reforms in the health sector.
Nasir Iqbal said the resolutions passed by the assembly should be implemented in letter and spirit so that no body should dare to speak blasphemous remarks against the sacred personalities. He also called for focusing on development of agriculture sector as it was vital to overall economic development in the country.
Shandana Gulzar said the opposition should at least acknowledge the positive steps of the government. “The present government brought the economy out of deep crisis at a time when the economy was at the verge of being default as predicted by the world financial institutions,” she added. She said it was a pro-poor, pro-business and pro-agriculture budget. She said the government launched Ehsaas Emergency Cash Program to save the people from starvation.
Begum Tahira Bokhari said the government employees were playing key role in development of the country however they were ignored in the budget. She demanded to announce reasonable increase in salaries of the government employees. Muhammad Iqbal Khan said a special committee should be established to ensure transparency in development schemes announced for merged districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Iqbal Khan said special focus should be given to the development of tribal districts. He said the local government elections should be held in tribal districts to ensure immediate redressal of problems faced by the local people.
Maleeka Ali Bokhari said that it was unfortunate that former rulers had spent public’s money to increase their assets. She said that all the international financial institutions and world leaders had appreciated the Ehsaas Emergency Cash program launched by the incumbent government to provide financial assistance to poor people. She said the government’s policies were aimed at protecting the poor segments of the society.
Malik Umar Aslam said the prime minister was committed to bring the country out of debt burdens by bringing major reforms in macro economic sectors of the country. He suggested supporting the policy of import substitution by producing local made edible items including edible oil seeds to minimize the trade deficit. He stressed for doubling exports and remittances to steer the country out of current economic challenges. He said technical education should be imparted to the youth so that they could exploit job opportunities both at home and abroad.
PTI MNA Khial Zaman criticized the previous governments for neglecting public issues and doing nothing to resolve them. He said the incumbent government had introduced a good budget despite several challenges and demanded for cheaper electricity. PML-N MNA Maiza Hameed said that prices of petroleum products were not been decreased as per international market rate and trickle-down effect had not been passed to the masses.
Farrukh Habib said the exports were witnessing increase as a result of incentives provided by government to the exporters and business community. The government was also bringing reforms in the institutions, he said while citing a visible improvement in Pakistan International Airline. He said historic reduction has been made in the prices of petroleum products.
